Interesting Facts About Vanadium (V)

Vanadium is an element. You can find it on the Periodic Table under ‘V’ which is its symbol. It can usually be found in solid form which is its normal phase. There are twenty three protons, twenty eight neutrons, and twenty three electrons found in vanadium. Its atomic number is twenty three, and it falls in the transition metals family.

The Facts

It is needed by the human body, but only in minimal amounts.

It can be found in surgical instruments.

Some researchers believe that it can help prevent cholesterol from forming in the blood vessels.

It can be found in sixty five different minerals.

It is bad for people with kidney disease.

It is used in lacrosse shafts.

It has never been found free in nature.

It was named after Vanadis. Vanadis is a goddess of Scandinavia representing beauty.

Its alloys are used in nuclear reactors.

It is found in crude oil.

It is an additive used to help improve the strength of steel.

The average person’s diet provides six to eighteen micrograms of it.

It is used by some athletes to enhance sports performance, but there is no evidence that it actually works.

There have been studies on animals showing that it helps prevent colon cancer.

It may help increase sensitivity to insulin in patients suffering from type two diabetes.

It may help lower blood sugar for people who have been diagnosed with type two diabetes.

Its melting point is 1890 degrees Celsius, which is 3434 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is used in magnets.

It is most commonly found in nutritional supplements.

Henry E. Roscoe reduced vanadium chloride with hydrogen, isolating metallic vanadium for the first time in 1867.

It is abundant in most soils.

It is not regarded as a severe hazard, though workers exposed to vanadium peroxide dust have suffered from rigorous eye, throat, and nose irritation.

Its boiling point is 3380 degrees Celsius or 6116 degrees Fahrenheit.

Its atomic mass is 50.9415 atomic mass units.

5.8 grams per cubic centimeter is its density.

It is found in storage batteries.

In its pure form it is a silvery metal with grey hues.

It is ductile and soft in its pure form.

It forms V205 when it oxidizes at temperatures above 660 degrees Celsius or 1220 degrees Fahrenheit.

Russia and South Africa contain the largest deposits of vanadium in the world.

The level that plants absorb vanadium shows its availability in the soil.

45,000 tonnes of vanadium ore are produced worldwide every year.

Approximately 7,000 tonnes of the metal are produced each year.

It was discovered in Mexico in the year 1801 by Andres Manuel del Rio.

It is redistributed throughout the environment via watering.

It can be found in axles.

Humans get most of their vanadium through apples, olive oil, eggs, soy beans, and sunflower oil.

Inhaling too much vanadium can cause lung problems such as pneumonia or bronchitis.

It can also be found in fishes, algae, invertebrates, and many other species.

It is used in crankshafts.

It was also discovered independently in 1803 by Nils Gabriel Sefstrom in Sweden.

Its initial extensive industrial use occurred in the vanadium steel alloy chassis of the Model T car, made by Ford. This happened over a century ago when the assembly line was first developed.

To protect against rust and corrosion, it is used in electrochemical coating.